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Ralph Young Half of the Sandler & Young Singing Duo Dies

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He was born in New York and joined Les Brown's Band of Renown in 1940. He teamed with Tony Sandler in 1965. They made more than 20 albums.

Ralph Young, a former big-band singer who became half of the internationally popular singing duo Sandler & Young, has died. He was 90.Young died after a brief illness Friday at his home in Palm Springs, said his wife, Arlene.

After becoming a duo in 1965, the Belgium-born Sandler and the Bronx, New York-born Young recorded more than 20 albums, headlined in showrooms, concert halls and nightclubs and frequently appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and other top TV variety and talk shows.

From London in 1969, they also hosted Kraft Music Hall Presents Sandler & Young, the summer replacement for The Kraft Music Hall variety show on NBC. “They were glorious years," Tony Sandler told The Times on Monday from the airport in Minneapolis, on his way to California for Young's funeral today in Palm Springs.

“They were extremely successful years," Sandler said. “We did every possible TV show; we did it all. There were ups and downs like in everything, but Ralph was my friend and a great singer, and I have the greatest admiration for him."

But it was, of course, the distinctive blending of their baritone voices that attracted audiences. Young, Sandler said, “was considered more a bass-baritone, where I'm more a baritone cantabile" -- he had a more flexible voice and a wider range, he said. “That's why I mostly harmonized with him, which created that Sandler & Young sound.

“It was just a close harmonic effect by the two baritone voices, which was unique. You can't predict something like that. When two voices click like that, it's unusual, and it's rare."

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